La Tanière du Serpent
by Maggoctopus
Summary: Set between MGS and MGS2, during Philanthropy's bout of destroying Metal Gears along the way. Of course, it's not *that* easy. And Snake still has his enemies... this particularly malicious one is out for revenge. But why? (R + R, 3rd part up)
1. Prologue

well... here I am again. with yet another fanfic. yup. _ a serious one. this one takes place between MGS and the beginning of MGS2, but hopefully that can be figured out in the story. ;P I hope this is.. okay.. I'll try and get fresh chapters up every other week or so, but no guarantee, folks. the title is supposedly 'The den of the snake' in French, or close to it. I hope. as long as it isn't like 'eat cod puff ice cream' or something like that. I'm also trying desperately to keep all the events during both MGS games uh.. relevent, as they happened, something like that. I probably will make mistakes, feel free to point them out to me in a considerate manner, thank you. ^^;  
Metal Gear Solid and all resulting characters therein are copyright to Konami/KCEJ, not me, blah blah blah. on with the show. 

**La Tanière du Serpent**

Prologue 

* * *

A chilled wind blew over the trimmed lawn. One lone woman stepped carefully down the manicured path, passing by the numerous headstones, laid in neat rows over the grass. She paused, clutching the paper-wrapped bouquet protectively to her chest while the breeze tousled her cinnabar hair with icy fingers. 

"Where is it, now..." She murmured to herself, her exhaled breath freezing in small clouds that drifted away from her face. A quick glance around, and she continued down the path. The newer graves were at the back of the cemetary. 

Finally reaching her destination, she slowly bent to her knees in front of a rather small and unspectacular grave. The redhead remained frozen for a moment, then delicately laid the bouquet at the grave's base. She kept her hand there for a moment, silently admiring the unique contrast of her pale skin and the blue serpent tattoo on her arm against the bouquet's green paper. Releasing her grip, she lightly pressed her palm against the cold surface of the headstone, her fingers tracing over the name carved into it. "I'll get him for you, I promise..." 

Leaving the grave with those simple, soft-spoken words, the woman rose back up to her feet. She was as silent as the bodies in the ground around her; she made no sound even as she trod on the gravel footpath of the graveyard. 

* * * 

Liquid pools of crystalline blue gazed up at the man. Love, utter devotion, and fear shone in those bright eyes. Their owner leaned his full weight on the man, a pitiful whimper sounding from the depths of his throat. 

"It's all right..." The man kneeled alongside the husky, giving the dog's pointed ears an affectionate scritch, attempting to make his gruff voice as comforting as possible. "They'll take good care of you, boy." 

Solid Snake stood up again, ignoring the dog's continuous whining as he handed the leash over to a rather eager-looking girl. Her parents smiled reassuringly at Snake. He didn't smile back. 

"He'll make a great addition to our team," the father commented as he counted out a few bills in his wallet, then handed them over to Snake. He merely shrugged and stuffed the payment in a pocket, then turned and walked away without further comment. There went his last sled dog... sold. At least the dog would be happier now... 

He slowly opened the door of his little loaner car and stepped in, resting back in the seat as he pulled the door shut. Stupid car... Otacon had it rented for him... he never had a car after he retired. If he needed to get somewhere, he had his snowmobile... or for a slightly more entertaining trip, his huskies. 

_I have neither now, _he reflected as he flicked a cigarette out of its crumpled pack and poked it between his lips. _Lost a lot of things through life._ He snapped the lid of his Zippo lighter back, a blue flame springing forth to light his cancer stick. He clicked the lighter shut with ease and tucked it away, inhaling deeply as his eyes settled shut. _My best friend, my dogs... hell, myself. And... _her_..._

"Meryl..." Snake murmured softly, an aura of tobacco smoke swirling around his head. "... God _damn_ it!" He roared, slamming his fist into the car's plastic dash, causing the glove compartment to pop open. Shaking lightly with rage, he ground his knuckles against the hard material for a moment, then slowly pulled his hand back and slammed the glove box's door shut with a loud click. Forcing the memories out of his head like he exhaled the smoke, he twisted the key into the ignition, the car's engine rumbling into life. 

No sooner had he started the little vehicle than he heard a familiar, insistent beeping. Touching the pad of his index finger to his ear, he eased the car back onto the road, steering with one hand. 

"Snake." A man with glasses and prematurely grey hair greeted him on the other end. 

"Otacon." He acknowledged his presence. Snake never was much of a conversationalist. "I'm on my way back." 

"All right. I already go-" Otacon paused, pushing his glasses back up his nose, then frowned distastefully. "Snake, are you smoking?" 

Snake exhaled a trail of smoke through his nostrils. "... No." 

Otacon sighed and adjusted his glasses again. "You know those things are bad for your health..." He decided against wasting his time on lecturing Snake, and started on more pressing matters. "Ready to take care of the next Metal Gear?" 

"Already?" Snake frowned, opening the car's window to flick the cigarette's ashes out it. 

"There's quite a few copycat Metal Gears out there already, Snake... looks like we got our work cut out for us." 

Snake merely grunted, listening intently as Otacon went on endlessly about the location and exact nature of the next Metal Gear he'd planned to target. The grizzled mercenary directed his car towards the airport, knowing he'd have a small jet waiting for him... 

"Philanthropy's first mission! I'm kind of excited." Otacon smiled, removing his glasses and polishing the lenses on his labcoat. 

"..." Snake carefully slid a loaded magazine into the suppressed Socom, then pressed himself against the corrugated steel of the warehouse's wall. "I'm heading in," he stated simply, then closed the Codec's connection and examined his surroundings closer. He could try the door, the window, or attempt to crawl in through ventilation shafts... 

Easiest option first.Clutching his pistol in his right hand, he reached out and tried the door with his left hand... it slid open easily. Breathing a sigh of relief, he pulled it open a few inches and peered inside. Dark... no, there was a few lights lit. Only two, three perhaps. No one nearby, lots of boxes for storage. It was, after all, a warehouse. Good. 

Snake grabbed the door firmly and shoved it open wider. Much to his dismay, the sliding metal parts ground against each other, sounding a horrible and loud screech. "Shit...!" He jumped back, raising the Socom. Wait. Listen. 

Nothing... if anyone was inside, they hadn't heard. Maybe no one was inside. That'd make his job a whole lot easier. But then, why was there lights on? Maybe they had heard, and were just waiting on the other side to ambush him... 

He edged closer to the door. Silence. He dared a quick peek around the corner; nothing. The interior hadn't changed any from his first glance inside. 

"Whew..." He allowed himself a relieved sigh, slipping inside. _Don't let your guard down, Snake,_ he reminded himself, quickly ducking behind a pallet of boxes. A quick tap to his ear, and the Codec automatically connected to Otacon's frequency. 

"I'm in," he growled softly, sneaking through the shadows. He paused at a break in the pallets, peeking around them. Still no sight of any human life... or any life, for that matter. Something large on the opposite end of the warehouse cast its ominous, lumpy shadow over the floor. "Must be Metal Gear..." Snake mused to himself. 

"Just find and destroy it, all right, Snake?" Otacon furrowed his brow, brushing a loose strand of hair out of his eyes. The ex-mercenary merely nodded his assent, darting quickly across the lit area, ducking back into the relative safety of the shadows. He froze suddenly, a small dark creature flitting across the ground in front of him, its hide scraping the toe of his right boot... 

Snake flinched slightly, involuntarily drawing his foot back. Rats! Of course... he should've expected rats here. It was a warehouse, after all, and rats were everywhere. Even those damned rats all over Shadow Moses. Whatever it was, the vermin had already squirmed under a pallet. Sighing silently, Snake crept to the end of said pallet, peering around the corner. 

Metal Gear loomed up from the concrete floor. It was not a new model, or even a particularly wonderful reproduction- that was obvious from the first glance. It was scuffed, dirty, even slightly rusted in areas. Dented and battle-scarred, the walking tank was nowhere as advanced as REX, but still dangerous nonetheless. He could see missile launchers mounted to its sides, the gleaming rounded tips of the artillery shining in the wan light. 

Snake eased around the corner a bit more. One or two good hits in the vital points of the machine with some strong explosives... his trusty Nikita launcher, maybe even some C4 would do the trick. Pyrotechnics was one of the few things he enjoyed about life. Allowing himself a faint smile, he slid around the corner, hazel eyes furtively examing the surroundings of Metal Gear. Nothing. No one. He frowned suddenly... this wasn't right. No one would just leave a Metal Gear unguarded... 

No, wait! There... a smaller shadow. Moving. A human-shaped shadow. Snake quickly whipped back around the cover of the crates into the shadow's shelter. He could hear the person approaching, now... but softly. He was wearing hard-soled shoes, but even on concrete, he stepped so carefully there was little more noise than the faint scrape of the soles on the floor and the rustling of his clothing. 

He stopped, suddenly... Snake caught his breath in his throat. Had they seen him? Heard him, even? How could they? Unless they'd spotted him earlier, perhaps they waited for him to get in closer to ambush him... still, nothing. Metal Gear's protector was motionless, it seemed. 

"Snake?" Otacon's voice sounded in his ear. "Snake? You've found Metal Gear. This one is a bit old, so some well-placed C4 might do the-" 

"I think I've been spotted," Snake muttered, his brow furrowing under the bandanna. He dared a quick peek around the corner- the guard had not, in fact, seemed to even have noted Snake's presence. The lone guard was facing Metal Gear, back to Snake... and he seemed to be alone. "Scratch that. I think he's alone..." Damn. He knew he should've brought the Soliton Radar... too late now. He slid over to the other end of the pallet and glanced around. The warehouse and Metal Gear were, apparently, guarded by the single man. 

"There's only one guard here..." 

"Are you sure? That's... odd." Otacon frowned. He was thinking the same as Snake... why would they leave only one man to guard a working nuclear tank? "Can you get a closer look... is he armed, Russian, US Forces...?" 

Snake merely nodded, tucking his handgun into its holster in favor of a camera instead. He ducked around the corner once more, quickly lining the shot up to the red-haired man and snapping a photo, then silently jumped back into the shadows. 

"Got a pic-" Snake started, then cut himself off, taking a closer look at the photo he'd snapped. The guard was not a man at all, but a woman. Standing rather nonchalantly, hands stuffed into her pockets, she was unaware of her visitor. Clad in no sort of military uniform- just a simple ash grey coat and matching grey pants. Black leather boots, resembled construction worker's boots. Granted, her hair was a bit short, but... her tousled red hair stuck out in spots, and her face... 

"Meryl..." Snake whispered, staring at the picture in disbelief. 


	2. Chapter One

hey! three people liked the first bit. ^_^; cool. here's the next chapter... enjoy, be a good reader and review, I need it. ;P  
Metal Gear Solid and all characters therein are copyright to Konami/KCEJ, not me, blah blah blah. Beretta Cobra is mine, though. and Berettas are some nice fine guns and copyright to Beretta $plug$ 

**La Tanière du Serpent**

Chapter One 

_Revenge is a dish best served cold._  
**-Spanish proverb**

* * *

_It can't be..._

His mouth was suddnly dry, and he couldn't blink. She was dead! Yet... the woman in the photo... she had a bit shorter hair, but it was the same lovely, deep shade of red... her face... it hadn't changed any. Snapping out of his daze, Snake realized he'd slumped down onto the ground, and quickly stood up. 

"Snake? Snake?!" Otacon's concerned, insistent voice repeated in his ear. He'd probably been calling for Snake for a minute or two already. 

Remaining silent, Snake quickly sent the picture off to Otacon. Just as well... his tongue was still stuck to his dry teeth. He wasn't sure he could articulate at the moment, anyway. This seemed to silence the hacker, at least until the photo was done uploading. 

"This looks like-" Otacon trailed off, seeming just as astonished at the picture as Snake. "But, she died..." 

"She's still alive," Snake nearly growled, furrowing his brow as a wave of anger flowed through him. She was alive all this time, and never even tried to contact him...?! _Snake, calm down... she's alive, isn't she? That's all that matters, right?_ Nodding faintly to himself, he tucked the camera away. 

"It may be her... or may not. Just be careful, Snake..." Otacon warned Snake, always the more sensible one. But his advice was rewarded with the soft beep and click indicating the Codec connection had been closed... he sighed and removed his glasses carefully. Snake probably hadn't heard anything he'd said... 

_I don't need a damn lecture from him... what does he know about love...?_ Snake sneered to himself, then shook his head. _That's not right, no, there was Wolf, and..._ A small animal slid over his boots suddenly, snapping him out of those thoughs. "Gah..!" Snake grunted, glancing down in time to catch some sort of long, hairless tail sliding under the pallet. That was one big rat... No, that didn't matter now. Not at all... 

He paused a moment longer, closing his eyes... then stepped around the pallet of boxes, in plain view of the woman. 

"Meryl..." 

The redhead startled, jumping back defensively. She landed neatly, her feet spread, looking ready to fight back or run, if necessary... she hadn't changed any, it seemed. He noted she had a hand already tucked in her coat, ready to draw her gun... 

Snake smiled faintly despite himself. "Meryl." 

The woman stared at him blankly for a moment, a clump of messy hair falling over her right eye, then suddenly grinned toothily. A bit uncharacteristically for the novice soldier he'd known just months ago... "So, you remember... Solid Snake." She spoke softly. 

"I could never forget..." Snake furrowed his brow, his hand slowly trailing down to his gun. This was wrong, all wrong... shouldn't she be happy? _She thinks I abandoned her to die..._ That wasn't right. She'd know better than that... 

Right? 

Before he could answer his own thoughts, Snake suddenly jumped to the side out of pure instinct. He felt the bullet zoom past his shoulder as the gunshot registered fully in his brain... if he hadn't moved, it likely would have gotten him in the neck. "What the hell are you doing?!" He snarled angrily, drawing his Socom, again out of reflex. 

The woman had her arm raised, clutching a Beretta 9000 in her right hand with the ease of an experienced gunfighter. A thin trail of smoke was still rising from its barrel. A faint smirk curved her lips as she made a soft, whispering hiss through her teeth. 

Before Snake could wonder just what the hell she was up to, low-slung creatures slunk out of the shadows of pallets and boxes and scuttled across the floor, clustering at the woman's feet. The rats! She was... calling the rats...? 

No, those were too... long... for rats... 

One of the animals raised its upper body off the floor, flaring out a patterned hood, a threadlike tongue flickering out of its scaled lips. 

Snakes. 

Cobras. 

Snake counted six of them, their mottled bodies writhing and slithering around the woman's ankles and boots, twining amongst themselves like living, flexing rope. Then he proceeded to state the obvious: "You're... not Meryl..." 


	3. Chapter Two

due to not-so-popular demand, here's more. Ooooh.  
Metal Gear Solid and all characters therein are copyright to Konami/KCEJ, not me, blah blah blah. Beretta Cobra is mine, though. SOCOMs are also damn fine guns. go buy a SOCOM. 

**La Tanière du Serpent**

Chapter Two 

* * *

Snake tried to back away, but his feet seemed glued to the floor. He suddenly realized he had trouble breathing, much less walking... or running. 

The woman took two full strides towards him. The snakes, moving as smoothly as fluid, made room for her feet to land upon the concrete floor... then immediately recollected around her ankles. The Meryl lookalike narrowed her glittering eyes, her gun still pointed at Snake. Her lips curled back in a sort of snarl, showing the points of white teeth. 

In unison, one of the serpents broke free from the group. Longer and thicker than the others, it slid to its own spot just in front of her, then coiled its black rope body. Using the rest of itself as ballast, the cobra raised his upper body... nearly six feet, coming to face level with Snake. Its hood snapped out, hissing lowly as its jaws dropped open, baring needle-tiny teeth. 

"Shit..." Snake uttered. The expletive loosened his muscles, as he found himself able to move once again- and most importantly, jump backwards as the King cobra struck at him. He heard the angry hiss as its head flew past his ear. 

Snake didn't stop to see if the cobra wanted another try... he bolted for the safety of the pallets again, firing off two quick shots at the woman's feet. He doubted he'd hit any of the snakes, and he certainly didn't... they'd already scattered. 

"You're just going to run, Solid Snake?!" She taunted, firing one shot at him in response. He didn't waste his breath answering her, just slammed his back up against the stack of crates, holding his breath. 

He suddenly remembered the low-slung animals darting under the pallets and looked down. No cobras on the ground after him... yet... and the woman? He tilted his head. Silence. 

Then her voice again, startingly close. How could she move so quietly? "Don't think you can run... I'm going to make you _pay_!" 

Snake instinctively leapt aside as she shot at him through the corner of the crates. He glanced around at her again... who the hell was this woman?! She wasn't in sight, though... now where had she gone off to? Likely hiding behind other pallets, waiting for him to step into her sight... 

Gritting his teeth slightly, he took a step forward, expecting to be shot at. 

Nothing. 

Her voice, disturbingly close. "Freeze." 

Snake did just that as he felt the muzzle of a Beretta 9000 press into his back between his shoulderblades. Damn... how could she move so quietly?! "Looks like you've got me..." He uttered in his heavy smoker's voice. He didn't need to look down to confirm the things sliding around his ankles and feet were the cobras... 


	4. Chapter Three

took me a while to get off my arse and do this one... and it's really not even all that good. ah well.  
Metal Gear Solid and all characters therein are copyright to Konami/KCEJ, not me, blah blah blah. Beretta Cobra is mine, though. you know what else are also good guns? Ruger. now there is some fine German firearms. 

**La Tanière du Serpent**

Chapter Three 

* * *

"Drop the SOCOM." The woman commanded. 

Inwardly impressed at her knowledge of firearms, Snake slowly lowered his arm with the gun. What choice did he have, anyway? She had him caught... he'd get out though. He always did. She didn't want him dead, obviously... if she did, she'd have shot him already. 

"Not here. Throw it." She jabbed his back with the muzzle of her gun. One of the cobras at his feet hissed loudly and rose up, hood flaring. 

No, he certainly didn't have much choice other than to do what she told him. He grit his teeth... he could try and turn this around on her. He probably could manage that with little to no injury to himself, but... there was the snakes at his feet. If she didn't shoot him, those cobras would get him. They were probably milked of all their venom, as tame as the damn things seemed, but... did he really want to take that chance? 

Snake decided no, and reluctantly tossed his beloved SOCOM, watching it skitter across the concrete floor into the shadows, metal scraping. He winced faintly hearing it scrape to a stop, unseen... he hoped the gun wasn't damaged. 

Another sharp stab in his back chased off any worries about his gun from his mind. He heard the woman take a step back, felt her eyes sweep up and down him. Her voice, sharp and commanding. "Turn around." 

"..." Snake tilted his head, glancing back at her from the corners of his eyes. 

"Turn around! Hands up!" She snapped, jabbing the gun's muzzle into the back of his head. 

Mouthing an expletive, Snake raised his gloved hands, slowly turning to face her. He felt the snakes move away from his ankles, giving him enough space to move his feet. He met the woman's hard gaze, and again his heart seemed to drop as he found himself staring at her... that young rookie he'd been unable to save, such a short time ago... 

"Got any other weapons on you?" The woman growled through her teeth. She was so disturbingly similar... the same shade of red to her messy hair, the same face, the same eyes... almost. Her eyes were a bright, glittering emerald, rather than Meryl's cerulean optics... 

"Answer me, asshole." She touched the tip of her index finger against the gun's trigger, still aimed at his face. 

"Just the SOCOM." That was a lie, and he knew it- but he had no other firearms on him. Just some explosives and a jackknife. Neither did him much good now. "Who the hell are you?" Snake asked suddenly, expecting to be hit, or worse- if this really was Meryl, somehow... 

The woman canted her head to one side, a slow smirking flashing across her lips. "You don't recognize me, do you?" 

Snake's breath caught in his throat. _It is her... it really is her..._

"You will, soon enough..." She leveled the gun, the tip nearly touching his forehead. "This is really a pity... I'd expected more of you." The redhead suddenly withdrew her hand, sliding her handgun back into its holster. "I'd thought you remembered... but I suppose a battle-hardened veteran like you doesn't remember all your victims, hm?" 

"Meryl..." Snake finally managed to stop choking on his words long enough to utter that simple statement. He was also mildly relieved to note the cluster of snakes at his feet had slid away from him and regathered around the woman. 

"Yeah... Meryl." The woman sneered at him, her eyes glittering in a way not too dissimilar from the snakes writhing and groveling at her ankles. She turned her back to him suddenly, the cobras dispersing into the cover of the warehouse's shadows. "You can call me Beretta Cobra." With those last words, she strolled silently across the concrete floor, soon disappearing from Snake's range of vision. 

"Foxhound..." He stated unnecessarily to himself, frozen in place for a moment, waiting for her or the snakes to return. Nothing. Silence. Snapping out of his shock, Snake scrambled over to where he'd thrown his SOCOM. 


End file.
